Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 93: Entanglement

Within less than five minutes into the battle, three of the four battleships of the Royal Navy were shot, and Goddess of Luck was obviously not on the British side. (Baidu search network updates the fastest and most stable)

Admiral Tovey has discovered that the British fleet is inferior to its opponents in long-range strikes. Although the Royal Navy's fleet insists on training for many years, most of them only focus on navigation and combat position exercises. The real live fire experience is not many. Because of the worldwide economic crisis, which also affects military funding, the lifespan of the gun barrels of battleships is limited, so it is better to save a little bit.

The Queen Elizabeth stayed on the berth for almost a year, and had just resumed service for less than two months. During the conversion period, the original crew of this battleship was assigned to other battleships in the local fleet, most of which followed Those warships sank to the bottom of the sea, and those who survived are now peeling potatoes in German prisoner-of-war camps. At present, only the engineering and navigation departments on this battleship are elderly people, and even the gunners are drawn from the cruiser fleet and artillery school. Prior to this, they had only undergone a few live-fire firing training, and the results were terrible.

The modernization of the bridge was not completed. Instead, it messed up the structure and pipelines of the bridge. The reinstallation and debugging of equipment were too hasty. Now the command and communication system of this battleship has frequent failures, otherwise Tovey would not The heavy cruiser Kent was chosen as the flagship.

The question of whether the Kent can still be responsible for the command of the flagship has been put on the table. The Fleet Staff unanimously asked Tovey to immediately change the flagship and transfer the headquarters to the undamaged Cumberland. On the cruiser. This heavy cruiser at the far right was fortunately not attacked by the German ships. And he played five rounds of volley very mentally. Although the impact of the shells was a little off, the overall performance looked very good.

The fire at the rear of the Kent has severely affected command and operations. The location of the German artillery shells was too tricky. When the warship was designed, the designer probably never thought that this location would be shot. The damage management team suffered heavy losses in the second explosion, and the surviving damage management personnel ran in vain between the three decks. Toxic smoke filled the corridors of the lower cabins. The lower sailors had all put on gas masks. Since the cabins could not be forcibly ventilated, the smoke could not be discharged quickly because it would encourage the fire. In addition, the combustion consumes the oxygen in the cabin, and many sailors have already experienced a lack of oxygen.

The fuel flame is difficult to extinguish with ordinary water sources. The damage management team has exhausted all professional fire extinguishing agents and fire-fighting sand buckets, and can only control the flames between a few floors of cabins. Unless they can obtain external support, they want to completely suppress the fire head. It will take a lot of time. But in the current situation, it is impossible to obtain any external support, and it is also impossible to give them more time. The British fleet is now racing at sea at a high speed of 24 knots. It is impossible to safely put down the boat at this speed, so there is no talk of changing to the flagship. Tovey rejected the staff’s proposal and decided to stay in Commanding operations aboard the Kent.

Black fuel smoke covered the rear half of the hull of the Kent, and the billowing column of smoke spread out two or three nautical miles away, and the signal flag on the main mast was already indistinguishable. Tovey can only rely on radio to direct the actions of the fleet.

Germany has made several direct hits, and the fleet has obtained accurate shooting parameters. Now they can easily hit the British* ships with shells by adding or subtracting numbers to the original parameters step by step.

The Germans have played a rhythm. Of course Tovey would not allow this situation to continue. He decided to change the formation and course to disrupt the beat of the German Navy. Tovey knew that in the long-range artillery battle, the Royal Navy fleet is now at a disadvantage. Whether it is the number of artillery or the accuracy, the Royal Navy has actually lost to the opposite German counterparts. Tovey decided to narrow the distance between the two sides. Enter the middle-distance battle line artillery battle and fully utilize the existing firepower of the four battleships. At the same time, the light cruiser can be put into battle, and the Royal Navy has an advantage on the light cruiser.

At 3:22 on the afternoon of d, after the sixth round of salvos, after the gunfire of the German fleet flashed, Tovey gave the order to change the formation, and the four battleships began to turn to the left at the same time. At thirty degrees, it was converted from a horizontal line to a column, led by Kent, followed by the Queen Elizabeth battleship, followed by the Berwick, and finally the Cumberland. The light cruiser column also began to turn when the battleship changed its formation, following behind the battleship column, the entire fleet pulled up into a long single column, lined up in a standard battle line artillery formation.

Tovey’s tactics worked. Due to the rapid change of the British fleet and turning to the front, on the route of the Royal Navy, a water column forest stood high, and the German navy’s shelling all failed. Up.

The Kent moved at high speed at the leader's position, and she was finally able to use all of the turrets to fire. Although the smoke covered the x and y turrets, they could still fire with the parameters given by the main gun command post. The black smoke of the Kent also played a part of the role of cover. It was difficult for the Germans to distinguish the shadow of the ship in the smoke. They could only aim roughly, and the impact of the shells began to become loose and aimless.

On the other hand, the smoke also affected the ranging and aiming of subsequent ships. The shelling of the Queen Elizabeth became more chaotic, and the spread of the shells was so large that even the Germans could not stand it.

The Berwick, in a mess on the front deck, failed to fire a single shell after the change. The problem with the Berwick’s front turret has seriously damaged the combat performance of this heavy cruiser. After the explosion, the bearing plate of the Berwick’s artillery command post was stuck, and at the same time a piece of armor fragments from the a turret hit. The root position of the rangefinder penetrated the iron sheet and was embedded in the refractive lens group.

Now this warship can only rely on the standby command post on the top of the tail hangar to conduct range-finding shooting. Due to the smog on the sea surface, the standby command post cannot even see the shadow of the enemy ship and cannot report the shelling parameters at all. Originally, the flagship Kent could use the firing bell on its rear mast to inform the wingmen of the bombardment parameters. Now that location has been burned into a sea of ​​flames. The black smoke billowed, even if the elephant with its head was on it, it could not be seen.

Because the Cumberland was last in line, the smoke reached her and was blown high by the sea current. This heavy cruiser happily fired a volley at the German fleet with four turrets. Practice makes perfect. After several rests, it finally straddled a German light cruiser. The Cumberland was full of excitement. Just as they were preparing to get the first effective hit on the British side of this naval battle, the German fleet also began to change.

Ryder is definitely not an embroidered pillow, although he was a bit miserable in front of Hitler. But he could not deny his contribution to the development of the German navy. He was once Hipper’s youngest chief staff officer, while Tovey was still working **** the destroyer. He was already squatting in the command room of the battlecruiser Luzo to plan fleet operations.

As soon as Tovey changed his formation, he guessed the opponent's attempt. The British were about to fight a close battle, which was exactly what he wanted.

The High Seas Fleet then fought two volleys. The result was all lost, and the distance deviation of the closest serve was more than 500 meters. The heavy cruiser led by the British dragged a long smoke across the sea, which did cause a lot of trouble for the German navy's ranging. Raidel decided to change his formation and shorten the distance between the two sides, as the enemy wanted, to fight a mid-to-close artillery battle.

Ryder is full of confidence in the artillery of the German navy. As long as it enters between fifteen and ten thousand meters, the German navy can achieve precise shooting, and the defense of that battleship is no longer a problem. The German Navy can smash these British ships one by one into the seabed.

The German fleet began to turn to the right, at an angle of fifteen degrees, and the two rows began one after another. It was transformed into a column, led by two Scharnhorst-class battleships, approaching the British fleet at a high speed of 28 knots. The two fleets lined up in columns and approached quickly at an angle of ten degrees. The German fleet has an obvious speed advantage, and at the same time it far surpasses the British in its rate of fire. The two sides exchanged shells constantly as they approached. Often the German navy fired two salvos, and the British responded with a round of shells.

Soon the two sides were close to fifteen thousand yards. At this time, the two fleets went through disguise several times, and they moved almost parallel to the British coast.

The damage management team on the Kent completed an almost impossible task. They finally extinguished the flames between the two decks. Before that, the fire spread to the top of the cabin, and the main engine was separated by only one layer. With the five-millimeter steel plate, the British sailors followed one after another. Almost all the idle sailors joined the firefighting team. People kept falling down due to suffocation and burns. The aisles of the upper deck were full of British sailors whose faces were blackened with blisters. The loyal sailors of the Royal Navy finally completed the task assigned by their superiors. As their oath stated, they used their lives to save the king's warship, although only temporarily.

The open flames have been extinguished, and the smoke in the cabin corridors has been pumped out. Now, instead of black smoke, it is the scorching steam produced by the evaporated seawater. The snow-white steam comes from the collapsed hangar and various deck vents. Out, drifting on the sea with the sea breeze.

The vision of the British fleet became clearer, and the Germans could finally target their opponents precisely, and the artillery battle also entered a white-hot stage. The light cruisers of both sides had already been put into battle, and the British and Germans used all their weapons that could reach each other to fight.

As the distance narrowed, the Germans had already broken the record of being unbreakable. The rigorous training of the Royal Navy was not superficial. After more than a dozen rounds of frenetic shooting, the Royal Navy finally shot themselves. Rhythm.

The Admiral Scheer with the Lieutenant Admiral's flag became the target of concentrated attacks by British cruisers. This armored assault ship was almost covered by the water column. Even Rydell felt that this warship must be fierce. Duojiao, in the end, only suffered a 152mm shell. The shell penetrated from the soldier’s kitchen on the back and exploded on the side of the oven, destroying two adjacent compartments, killing two chefs and four. A sailor. Next, the fragile armored ship received four consecutive volleys, and everyone was stunned that no more shells could come close to her.

Since then, the British light cruiser group has been bombarded by two German heavy cruisers. Admiral Hipper and the eight turrets of the Prince Eugen cooperated and began to name six British light cruisers.

The Enthusiast was shot first. Admiral Hipper’s a and b turrets bombarded her in three rounds. In the final round, two 283mm shells directly hit the middle of the hull. One shot into the hull between the two front chimneys and directly destroyed the main flue system, and the other blew up a 152mm main gun in the middle of the hull.

Prince Eugen seemed to be possessed by a god. She fired a bombardment on three British light cruisers at the same time. She hit two of them in succession. The Gloucester-class light cruisers Liverpool and Manchester were hit hard, and the former was on the bridge. bomb. The wheelhouse exploded, and a five-meter-square hole was exploded on the outer wall of the bridge. The supporting structure was destroyed, the upper deck collapsed, most of the people in the bridge were killed on the spot, and the latter was hit in the stern. Destroyed the rear main gun control tower and cut off the towering mast.

The British light cruiser quickly transferred the firepower from the Schell to the two German heavy cruisers, and began a chaotic battle with two fierce opponents.

The Scharnhorst was hit by the Kent’s main artillery. The shell penetrated the upper side armor on one side, but failed to penetrate the second dome. In the end, only a material warehouse was destroyed, causing There was a small fire, and the German damage management team rushed to the scene in the first time and quickly put out the fire. This shell did not cause any serious damage to Scharnhorst, but it burned Raidel's fighting spirit. The German Navy Marshal gritted his teeth, determined to fight to the end with that Kent class.

Luzov never found its status, but luckily. His opponent was in worse condition. The Berwick and the German armored ship exchanged shells back and forth. Both sides only have two turrets, but the Germans have an advantage in caliber and number, which is more than the other side. Two barrels came out, but several rounds were fired. The two sides can only continuously create a pile of water columns beside each other, which makes the captains of both sides want to die depressed.

At this time, the two battleships have gradually approached the British coast. The steep cliffs on the coast can be clearly seen in the goggles of the observation post. The German fleet began to turn again. Relying on the speed of four knots faster than the British* ship, Raidel made a 180-degree turn in front of the British fleet and shortened the distance between the two sides to 12,000 yards. Tovey did not dare to neglect this. He quickly led the fleet to make a steering maneuver in the same direction to avoid the German naval fleet from turning back to his own column. The Germans occupied the speed advantage and the British fleet could only respond passively.

As the British fleet began to turn around, the distance between the two sides once again opened to 13,000 yards. The two fleets maintained almost parallel routes and began to head towards the French coast.

The fierce artillery battle continued, and the German and British navies had lost their eyes at this time. Many ships in the queue on both sides were still stubbornly staying in the queue, firing shells at the enemy. Just when everyone thought this artillery battle would last for a long time, an unexpected situation broke the awkward stalemate.

The near-missing shell fired by the Lützov previously caused negligible damage to the Berwick. At that time, no one thought that this shell would be the fuse that triggered a series of subsequent tragedies, let alone. This shell eventually led to the defeat of the British Royal Navy's home fleet.

The crack caused by the near loss of bomb caused the Berwick’s fresh water tank to be contaminated. This fresh water was supplied to the main boiler to produce steam. After the sea water entered the boiler, the water evaporated and turned into steam. A layer of hard salt crust has accumulated on the turbine blades. As the salt crust builds up and thickens, the output of the main engine begins to decrease, and the pipeline also begins to block up. When the chief engineer finds this problem, the situation has reached the point of irreversibility. , Several boilers and units were all damaged.

The speed of the Berwick suddenly dropped, and then she began to turn, trying to leave the battle line, but the Cumberland immediately behind was indulging in the shooting with Admiral Scheer , Did not find the accident ahead.

By the time the bridge personnel discovered that the situation was not right, the Berwick was close at hand, like a high wall blocking the bow of the Cumberland. Cumberland's helmsman only had time to turn the steering wheel two times, and a terrible collision occurred.

The heavy cruiser of more than 10,000 tons hit the sister ship's belly diagonally at a high speed of 24 knots, and the horror at the time was simply unbearable. Carrying huge kinetic energy, the Cumberland pushed Berwick's huge hull forward to a distance of more than ten meters, and the huge waves provoked onto the towering ship's side.

The bow of the Cumberland until the position of the turret a was inserted into Berwick’s body. Several sailors on the Berwick were thrown into the air by the impact and screamed and fell to Campbell. Lan's foredeck and a turret ~IndoMTL.com~The interior of Berwick's hull was completely torn apart, and the stacked deck structures were all exposed to people's eyes. The frightening thing is that the main engines of the Cumberland and Berwick have not stopped rotating. They are still pushing their respective hulls forward. The Cumberland is like a huge can opener, Rick's hull pried open little by little.

The breach became bigger and bigger, and the sea frantically poured into Berwick's hull. The heavy cruiser began to roll in the direction of the Cumberland, and the rear of the hull obviously began to sink. The captain of the Cumberland hurriedly ordered a full speed retreat, trying to pull his warship out of the opponent's hull. But no matter how crazy the turbine turns, the hull doesn’t move. The leaning Berwick put all the weight on the bow of the Campbell. The damaged structures on both sides are entangled into a ball, and the huge gravity and buoyancy interact. The two are tightly hinged together.

The heavy cruiser bit the murderer before it died, and was about to drag it into **** together. (To be continued)

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